Doing the Loop in GH 3

"Patty: How do you go to the bathroom in space? Jim Lovell: Well, um... I tell you it's a very complicated procedure that involves cranking down the window and looking for a gas station." Apollo 13, 1995.

On a blustery Wednesday, we left our recently purchased Catalina 320 Sailboat at Ft. Pierce Municipal Marina and drove a rented car across the state to Seminole, Florida. We took a tour of the factory where Catalina Yachts are manufactured.

We respected their request not to take photos of the manufacturing process. Seeing and hearing about how Catalina's are designed and built made us appreciate and respect our own sailboat even more. We actually learned quite a bit which will help us care for and appreciate our own boat.

Here is a photo of a cross section of a Catalina hull located in the lobby of the visitor's center.




Catalina Yachts now builds, on a time and material basis, sailing Catamarans designed and sold by Gemini. Some of the nicest people we know own a Gemini 340!




Sailing up the Atlantic ICW we saw this building in the distance. It is the tallest building in the US outside a metropolitan area. It is almost as tall as the Arch in St. Louis and occupies 8 acres. It is the largest one story building in the world. It is not an urban legend that it is so large that it actually has its own weather inside the building.



As we motored north along the Atlantic ICW, we got closer and could tell that it is NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building.



From the waterway, we saw the Delta IV rocket on the launch pad just a few hours before scheduled launch.

This reminded Tom of when he worked as a coop at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston when he was in college. In the 1970s he worked on part of the Space Shuttle.

This also reminded Tracy of many Mercury, Gemini and Apollo launches in the 1960s. Tracy and her mother eagerly watched early morning launches together on the TV which was a gift from her older brother. When a launch was delayed, Tracy's mother would insist that she stay and watch until launch. They saw history being made together. Tracy would then run all the way to Conway Elementary School so as not to be tardy. They saw history being made together.



Just about 8:10 pm on Saturday, March 18, we were in the cockpit of Bucket List watching and listening to a "Live Feed" from NASA on our iPad waiting eagerly to view lift off from fairly close range. With the Live Feed reporting T-45 seconds, we noticed the actual rocket being launched across the water from our anchorage. We then realized that there was a delay in the live feed.

Here is a video of the actual launch of the Delta IV WGS-9 rocket.






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